Maxwell Communication Corporation

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Maxwell Communication Corporation plc
IndustryMedia
Founded1964
Defunct1991
FateAdministration
HeadquartersLondon, UK
Key people
Robert Maxwell (Chairman)

Maxwell Communication Corporation plc was a leading British media business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It collapsed in 1991 following the death of its titular owner.

History

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Formation and Turbulent Years

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The company was established in 1964 when Hazell Sun merged with Purnell & Sons (which also owned book publisher Macdonald) to form the British Printing Corporation.[1] In 1967, the British Printing Corporation merged its magazines into Haymarket Group.[2] During the 1970s the British Printing Corporation was involved in many disputes with trade unions.[3] In 1978 such a dispute led to The Times and Sunday Times not being published for ten months.[3]

Robert Maxwell's Acquisition and Company Restructuring

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In July 1981, Robert Maxwell launched a dawn raid on the company, acquiring a stake of 29%; the following year he secured full control of it.[3] He changed the name of the company to British Printing & Communications Corporation in March 1982 and to Maxwell Communication Corporation in October 1987.

The company acquired Macmillan Inc., a large US publisher, in 1988.[4] It went on to buy Science Research Associates and the Official Airline Guide later that year.[5] SRA was sold to a joint venture of Maxwell's Macmillan and McGraw Hill the next year.[6]

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The company went into administration in 1991 following the death of Robert Maxwell.[7] Its properties were sold to various media companies. Time Warner (then parent of Little, Brown and Company) acquired Macdonald.[8] McGraw Hill acquired that part of Macmillan/McGraw Hill it did not already own outright. OAG was acquired by Reed Elsevier,[9] while Macmillan was folded into Simon & Schuster.[10]

In 1999, British courts determined that Coopers & Lybrand had made gross errors during their audits of the Maxwell group of companies and fined Coopers & Lybrand a record £3.3 million.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ Haymarket: Timeline Archived 2009-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b c Peter Robinson, Chairman and CEO, Obituary, The Times, 15 November 2007.
  4. ^ "Maxwell Lifts Macmillan Takeover Bid to $86.80 a Share", New York Times, 16 September 1988.
  5. ^ "Airline Guide being sold to Maxwell", New York Times, 31 October 1988.
  6. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  7. ^ "Bankruptcy Explanation By Maxwell" Archived 6 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine, New York Times, 18 December 1991.
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  9. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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